While some turtles naturally have a green shell, a change from one color to green on a turtle’s shell will likely shock and concern you as a turtle keeper.
This article looks into why your turtle’s shell may be turning green.
Why is my turtle’s shell turning green?
While green may be a beautiful color on turtle shells, the animal suddenly changing color and now sporting a green shell will likely be quite concerning and confusing for you. It may even have you questioning the animal’s health
Here is why this may be happening with your turtle’s shell:
Algae growth:
A shell color change to green is likely the result of algae growth on the animal’s shell.
Algae can grow almost anywhere as long as the conditions are right. These “right” conditions are warm, humid environments that are exposed to a lot of sunlight.
The algae may grow in your pet’s enclosure or on the turtle itself, in your pet’s case on the shell
The algae that you’ll see growing on your pet’s shell will look like one big dark green carpet or dark green carpet patches.
What to do:
You don’t have to worry if there is algae on your pet’s shell, the algae won’t harm the animal but you should keep in mind that this is happening because of unclean water so you’d have to address that.
If you want to remove the algae from your pet’s shell then scrub the shell with a sponge or soft toothbrush. Be gentle when scrubbing, these animals can feel their shells, shells have sensitive nerves.
Keep in mind that scrubbing the algae off will take some time especially if there is a lot of algae on the turtle’s shell
Scrub the animal in a different container than its tank and use room temperature water when scrubbing the shell.
Once you’re done scrubbing clean the container that you used with either F10SC, bleach solution, or chlorhexidine
While the algae itself is not harmful to the turtle it can hinder the absorption of UV rays and heat during basking so removing it is recommended.
If the algae is allowed to it will grow under the partially shed scutes and this can cause shell rot to develop.
Prevention:
Preventing algae from growing on the shell is quite easy, you can prevent algae growth by periodically brushing the shell.
What will also help is making sure that the tank is cleaned regularly and that the water is changed regularly too. A good water filter will go a long way in keeping the tank clean.
What will also help is not leaving the animal tank near a window, using live plants in the enclosure, using algae-eating fish in the enclosure and not leaving excess food in the tank
Avoid chemicals that are labeled as algae prevention, these can harm your turtles.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Turning Blue?, Why Does My Turtle’s Shell Look Cracked?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Breaking?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Shiny?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Squishy?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Dented?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Getting Darker, Why Is My Turtles Shell Caving In?, Why Is My Baby Turtle Not Growing?